CA: Donations, key posts connected for Assembly Democrats

OC Register ^ | 1/26/07 | Brian Joseph

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO– Orange County lawmaker Jose Solorio raised some eyebrows in December when he was named chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

A rookie legislator, Solorio lacks the sort of background you might expect of the law enforcement chairman. He ran this fall on an education platform, touting his public policy degree from Harvard and encouraging Latinos to learn English. His slogan was "The Education Candidate."

"The only qualification that I see is that he had a lot of money to spread around," said political watchdog Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

Indeed, Solorio, D-Santa Ana, was among the Democrats' top contributors in the freshman class, giving more than $92,000 to party causes.

Solorio told me the money is merely a byproduct of the political talents that earned him a chairmanship. That may be true. But an analysis of posts awarded to Assembly Democrats since 2000 shows freshmen who give more money are also more likely to get fancy titles in their very first year in Sacramento.

In Congress, seniority rules, so no freshmen would ever wield the gavel. But Sacramento is ruled by term limits – and money.

[NormsRevenge]

Summary of findings

The following findings stem from a review of leadership posts awarded to Assembly Democrats in their first year in office. Forty of the 48 Assembly Democrats this year received either the chairmanship of a standing committee or budget subcommittee, or a leadership position such as assistant speaker pro tem or majority whip. (Two members received two titles.)

Veteran lawmakers received assignments before the freshmen, securing 25 of 42 positions.

For rookie lawmakers, those who give the most money to Democratic causes typically get the left-over chairmanships and leadership spots.

Statistically, there is correlation between the amount of money Assembly Democrats give and whether they receive posts in their first year in office.

[EagleUSA]

Statistically, there is correlation between the amount of money Assembly Democrats give and whether they receive posts in their first year in office.
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Pay to play - a typical political methodology that was heavily fostered by Gray Davis, the arch criminal that actually got into our Governor's mansion for a while. Then spent all his time extorting money out of the state and his supporters.

[Carry_Okie]

A rookie legislator, Solorio lacks the sort of background you might expect of the law enforcement chairman.

So? None of the legislators have diddly in the way of background. See "term limits."